tangerine umbrella
by maravelous
Summary: Oneshot; There has always been someone to love, and something for them to love about her. — NejiTen


**N O T E S**

Many of you may think the title of this story is just there to be cute. Not so! The tangerine is considered a lucky food on New Year's Day in the Chinese tradition. The entirety of the story is going to center in around luck, fortune, and fate, and how the idea of bad or good luck follows Tenten around, looming over her like a big umbrella.

Now as you're reading, you may find that Tenten's features may be over and/or under exaggerated in relation to her actual data, i.e. her height, size and eyes. This is just for the sake of the story. So please don't patronize me on the facts because I already know them and stretched them on purpose.

The story itself is set a year after the current time frame in the manga (a year post-war). Whatever is in italics, however, is set two months earlier (this is mentioned in the story) on New Year's Day.

With that, I'd like to dedicate this story to my NejiTen FC on NF. Much love! Everyone please enjoy!

—

—

Tenten always knew she couldn't tell the future. But she still tried.

"Tenten…"

Tenten ignored Neji as he called out to her from the other side of the training field. She was busy standing there in the grass crossing her arms and glowering down at her breasts, concentrating. The sounds of an oncoming thunderstorm did nothing to interrupt her thoughts, and neither did Neji, who was insisting from across the field, "Tenten, pick up your scrolls, we're trying again."

He was supposed to be here by now. The cards _said so_. The tarot cards, that is. Her fortune had read that her true love would come to her when she was seventeen. That was what they'd always said, and they weren't supposed to _lie_.

"Tenten, are you listening to me?"

That was the only reason she wasn't brainwashed into being a mindless calf like Ino and Sakura, galloping after their Sasuke, and didn't become a bumbling heap of sweaty and inflamed skin at the sight of Naruto, like Hinata; because she was always sure that he was coming for her, and she was waiting for him, and he would _be there_. There was never anything to fight for or worry about.

"Are you feeling alright? Are you sick or something?"

But now, he'd failed her. She was eighteen now, and that whole year since she'd turned seventeen, one whole year of expectant waiting, had not paid off in the slightest. What was to become of her? Would she become an Ino or Sakura or Hinata? Or would she wither away, lonely and depressed for the rest of her life? Oh, how was she going to get by when she was old and had no children to take care of her?

"Are you hung-over or something? We have that special remedy that we use for Lee, remember? Do you need to use it?"

Life was useless. How would she commit suicide? Oh, she couldn't commit suicide. Unless she was forced to during a mission…She made a point to offer herself up as a sacrifice next time she was sent on an S-mission.

"Tenten!"

"_Why did I ever cut those noodles?"_

Tenten realized, too late, that she had said that aloud. And that she was standing there clutching her head like she was brandishing a coconut on her shoulders. She slowly turned her face to see Neji giving her a look like he was worried if she was mentally distraught.

"…I don't…know…?" he tried.

Tenten groaned. Bad luck, she insisted. Just bad luck.

—

**tangerine **＊**umbrella**

—

two months ago;

"_Happy New Years!"_

_Tenten smiled as she greeted Gai, Lee and Neji at her front door. "Hi guys! Come i-Ow!" Tenten gasped as suddenly a box the size of the freezer of her refrigerator was shoved into her gut, knocking the wind out of her. Coughing and regaining her balance against the door, she let Lee glide smoothly in, seeming proud of what he had done._

_Neji sighed and walked over to put a hand on Tenten's shoulder. "Are you alright?"_

_Tenten nodded, letting out a squeaky, "Yes." She paused when Neji held up a small pink pouch. There was a charm hanging off of it in the shape of a dragon. "Thank you for hosting," he said courteously, like he'd recited the line in a mirror._

_Tenten smiled and nodded, taking the present. Neji passed her, and finally Gai came to a stop in front of her. His arms were empty, but he stood in front of her with an accomplished grin. Tenten coughed and looked around; Gai hadn't dropped anything inside the front door of her house. She turned back to Gai; no present was behind his back or anything._

_After realizing he didn't have a present at all, Tenten pouted at Gai in distaste. "Sensei!" she cried. "It's tradition for all guests to honor the host of a New Year's party with a gift! I mean, it's only polite!"_

_Gai suddenly gave out a loud, booming laugh. "Oho!" he said with a cheeky grin. "But I did, my dear Tenten!"_

_Tenten looked around her again, but Gai shook his head with a jolly chuckle. "It's not here yet! It's still being shipped!"_

_Tenten stared at Gai in wonder. "Is this a joke that I just don't get?" she asked blandly._

_Gai's grin sparkled in the light of Tenten's apartment. "No! But when you get a box that's about eight feel tall delivered to your door, you will very well be laughing, but in glee!"_

_Tenten raised a brow sand stood to the side, feeling very confused, as Gai, seeming quite proud of himself, swept in to follow Lee and Neji._

_Tenten sighed and closed the door behind her, turning around. "Okay, well thank you I guess…"_

"_My present is good too!" Lee cried ecstatically, bouncing up and down on his toes eagerly and nodding at the box in Tenten's arms. "Open it! Hurry!"_

_Tenten shrugged and walked over to the center of the living room, kneeling down to open the box with one of her kunai. When it was open, she reached in, elbow deep and past green tissue paper in mass quantities of what she figured may have been the hundreds, 'till she grasped something that was recognizably made of wax._

_She pulled it out, and held it up. And then, she grimaced._

_Lee clapped his hands with pride, grinning. Gai let out another roaring laugh, saying, "Great idea, Lee!" Neji, viewing the present, gave Lee a small look of distaste._

_Gleaming in the florescent lighting of Tenten's living room sat in Tenten's palm a large candle. It was a normal decorative candle, really, with a wick and everything._

_But it was a fish…_

_Tenten looked over at Lee. Lee, smiling at her eagerly, said, "It's a candle!"_

_Tenten nodded, and found that she was having difficulty forming words. "But…" she said slowly. "But it's a fish…"_

"_Yes!" Lee said happily. "It reminded me of you!"_

_Tenten stared at him. "I…remind you of a fish…?"_

"_Yes you do!" Lee confirmed with a grin._

_Tenten slowly turned down to look over her body, and Neji coughed. Catching her attention, she looked up at him, and he said hesitantly. "I don't think he meant that you look like a fish, I think he was just reminded of the first time you tried to summon an animal, and you summoned a fish…"_

"_That is exactly it!" Lee confirmed. Gai began to laugh yet again, and Lee continued cheerfully as Tenten turned the fish candle around in her hand, "I found a large grey candle, and I wanted to make you something personal, so I carved a fish out of it."_

"_So…" Tenten gathered weakly. "So every time I see this, I will be reminded of my failure…"_

_Lee paused, staring at her as she glowered at the dreadful thing in her palm. "But…" Lee said hopefully, "Didn't I do a good job carving it?"_

"_Y…Yes, you did…" Tenten said unenthusiastically. She set the fish aside, mumbling, "Thank you Lee…" as Lee crossed his arms proudly._

_She sighed and turned to the pink pouch Neji had given her, picking it up. "Well, let's see what this one is."_

_Neji blinked as Tenten opened the pouch and peered inside. "What do you mean?" he said as Tenten frowned and stuck a finger in the pouch, finding that there was nothing in it. Tenten looked up at Neji, and he tilted his head to the side, confused. "Do you not know what it is…? It's a pouch…"_

_Tenten raised a brow. "Well…yes, but…" She gasped as she suddenly realized that the pouch was the present! "O…Oh!" She fought back the embarrassed blush from her cheeks, and inside scolded herself for being so stupid as she said quickly, "Thank you, Neji…!"_

_He said nothing, and Tenten groaned quietly as she said it aside. Why couldn't he at least wrap a present? He really didn't know much about giving gifts, did he?_

"_Well, your presents are both certainly alright…" Gai said boastfully in a voice that shook the china plates stacked on the table in the corner of the living room. "But you've both lost to me!"_

"_Ah!" Lee cried in defeat. "Of course Gai-sensei would get Tenten a better present than me! Is there nothing you can lose at?"_

"_I'm afraid you're going to have to try much harder, Lee!"_

"_I will, sensei! Next year I'll get Tenten a present the size of a cattle!"_

"_Good thinking, Lee! Then I will have to get Tenten a present bigger than her house! In fact, I will get her an actual house for next New Years!"_

"_Aha! Then I will have to get her an entire forest!"_

_Tenten groaned, eyeing the little pouch and the fish candle as Neji crossed his arms and tried to ignore Lee and Gai's rants. Well. These presents sure were…lame…_

_But Tenten smiled at the sight of them nonetheless. They may have been lame, but she was going to cherish them forever, wasn't she?_

currently;

She'd finally figured it out.

Tenten knew what it was. Why he hadn't come yet, why her fortune was not coming true.

It wasn't the tarot readings' fault. It was _hers_.

"Tenten, are you alright?"

Tenten looked to her left at Sakura. She was smiling down at her from her spot next to her behind the table at the Yakiniku BBQ. Across from them were Ino and Hinata, Ino chattering on about how pretty Hinata's hair was.

Tenten gave Sakura a lame smile. "Oh, yes, I'm fantastic."

Sakura seemed to notice the strange tightness in Tenten's voice, but let out a tiny laugh and nodded, turning back to get another piece of meat.

Tenten lost the smile immediately when she was sure no one was looking. Yes, she knew now why her soul mate hadn't found her yet; because he couldn't recognize her. Because she was surrounded by girls who were so much prettier than she.

Tenten wasn't attractive enough, she decided for herself now. The person she was meant for couldn't see her, because there wasn't anything _to_ see in her. She wasn't ugly. But she wasn't spectacular, like that Sakura.

Tenten knew this, because at the moment, she was studying the feet under the table. The feet that belonged to the four girls eating BBQ, their legs draped elegantly over the seats, their toes pressing into the ground. All except Tenten's.

Tenten's legs were the shortest of the four girls. So she was the only one whose feet did not touch the ground.

There they were, four sets of feet, and only one pair was dangling in the air, toes not even brushing the tiled floor.

"Tenten, you should be happy today. What's wrong?"

Tenten's head snapped up and she laughed nervously at Sakura, who seemed concerned. She waved her hands in the air. "Nothing!" she lied in a sickly sweet voice. "Nothing at all!"

Sakura was not convinced. Her eyes searched Tenten's as if they were looking for a clue, and she frowned. "Oh!" she said, nodding to the table in front of them. "Is it because you can't reach the meat in the middle?"

"_NO_!"

Ino and Hinata across the table shared a look with Sakura as Tenten glowered hurriedly and quickly snatched up a pair of chopsticks. "Look! I can reach the meat! See?" She reached forwards, stretching her arms to try to get the pieces of meat in the middle of the table, sizzling on the BBQ and looking like they were waiting patiently just for her.

But she realized, far too late, that she couldn't…

Her arms were too short. She could barely graze the meat with the tips of the chopsticks, and even then she was leaning forward so far she felt like she was about to fall into the BBQ and sizzle her face off. Not that she would mind if that happened right now…

She slowly sat back, a grumpy pout on her face. Ino, Sakura and Hinata were all silent, looking anywhere but at the tiny brunette, trying to give her some dignity.

But finally Tenten muttered, "Oh go on and laugh."

And they did.

—

"_I PROPOSE A TOAST!"_

_Tenten and Neji both clamped their hands over their ears at the sound of Gai-sensei's booming voice that made the soy sauce container shake and almost spill over._

_Lee, however, seemed to embrace the sound, and clapped his hands together in excitement. "Wonderful idea sensei, as usual!"_

"_Of course it's a wonderful idea!"_

"_Of course it is, I would be a fool to doubt it!"_

"_Yes you would!"_

"_Yes I would, sensei!"_

"_Okay, okay!" Tenten cried, wanting them to shut up. "Just get on with it!" She shared a glum look with Neji, who was picking moodily at his plate of the noodles that Tenten had made the team for New Year's dinner. Both of them knew that Gai's toasts were always filled with hopelessly obnoxious "team bonding", and quite a lot of shouting._

_Gai got to his knees on the outskirts of the table, and lifted his cup of sake high in the air, although made sure to not let a drop spill near Lee. "I would like to congratulate each and every one of you!" he said dramatically as he brandished his cup. He smiled and turned to his left to Tenten, saying fondly, "But before I make a toast, we first must thank our lovely little host (Tenten winced at 'little') for honoring us with her delicious meal! I must compliment you on your fabulous cooking, my sweet Tenten!"_

_Tenten yelped out in pain when suddenly Gai swung a hand down to slap Tenten, hard, on the back. Tears filled her eyes at the sting, and Neji muttered, "Sensei, that wasn't necessary," frowning in concern at Tenten as she rubbed her back, wincing._

_Lee, on the other hand, had stars in his eyes. "What was that, sensei?" he asked in awe. "Was that a new form of training?"_

"_No, my dear Lee," Gai said, shaking his head. "It's what men do to congratulate each other, they slap each other on the back."_

_Tenten gasped through her pain, and, insulted, she looked up and cried angrily, "I am not a man!"_

"_Going on!" Tenten glowered as Gai-sensei ignored her and turned to include Neji in the toast. "I must make a toast to the both of you, Neji and Tenten." He smiled at them proudly. "I am sorry for neglecting you, my beautiful students, and instead spending all my time with Lee."_

_Tenten paused from rubbing her now bruising back to listen to these words, feeling a little touched that he'd think of them that sweetly. But Neji seemed bored already, and had turned to eating his noodles again, uninterested._

_But Gai continued nonetheless, saying with a glimmer of happiness in his eyes, "I am so proud of how you two have grown together, even without my complete guidance, both mentally and sexually."_

"_ACK-?" Neji made out a strange, strangled sound as he choked on his noodles, and Tenten gasped, both of their faces turning red._

"_S-S-Sensei!" Tenten cried as Neji gulped down some sake, spluttering and coughing. "Wh-What the hell do you mean by…sexually?"_

_Gai-sensei frowned and peered down at the two who were gaping up at him, glancing at each other every so often to look away, completely embarrassed. "Well aren't you two planning on taking each other's virginity?" Gai queried calmly._

"_NO!" they both shouted, blushing intensely._

_Gai gasped, seeming to understand now. "Oh!" he said with a laugh. "Oh, how foolish of me. You're not planning to, you already have!"_

"_No!"_

"_No, we haven't!"_

_Gai didn't seem to hear them, he was nodding to himself. He sighed and said with a gesture to the two, who were shaking their hands at him, trying desperately to get him to understand, "Well, good luck in sexual intercourse!"_

_Tenten and Neji groaned in unison. Tenten shared a look with him, timidly, and just shook her head, and he sighed, seeming to understand as well that no matter what they said it wasn't any use against Gai. So Neji just glowered and turned back to his noodles, trying to distract himself from the mayhem._

_But Gai wasn't done yet. Although he set his sake cup down, he smirked and gave Neji a sly wink from across the table. "By the way, Neji," he said loudly. "Great job on snagging such a lovely flower!"_

"_Yeah, great job, Neji!"_

"_Gack!" Neji let out a noise of pain as Lee's fist came swinging down to slam into his back, and once again he began to choke on his noodles._

_Tenten slapped a hand across her face. "Pathetic," she whispered._

—

"…Tenten...? What are you doing…?"

Tenten let out a squeak of surprise and whipped around to see Neji emerging from behind one of the trees. She was in she and Neji's training ground, the one that no one else used because they'd laid it to ruin so many times, the one they'd claimed as theirs and no one else's…

And the one that apparently Neji was bringing another girl to? What was this?

Tenten eyed Sakura, who slowly slipped from behind another tree following Neji, a curious gaze in her green eyes. Tenten frowned at her, but jumped in surprise when Neji tapped her on the shoulder. She gulped and turned to face him, and Neji said again, louder this time, "Tenten, you didn't say you were going to be training again today. I thought you were finished after you were so spacey this morning."

"She was spacey at lunch at the BBQ today too," Sakura added with a friendly laugh, giving Tenten a teasing grin.

But Tenten was not in a laughing mood today. She sighed and shook her head at Neji. "I'm not training."

Sakura suddenly noticed the tree that Tenten had been leaning up against, and pushed past Neji to get a closer look at it. There were markings carved into it with a kunai, numbers and letters. Sakura turned to Tenten, and said, "What are these?"

Tenten pouted and crossed her arms shyly. "They're measurements…" she grumbled, finding the leaf that was curling around her foot suddenly very interesting. "…My measurements…from four years ago…"

Sakura blinked in surprise and turned to Tenten, gazing at her. "But you haven't grown barely a centimeter…" she said, glancing back and forth between Tenten and the measurements.

"Oh don't rub it in," Tenten snapped, and Sakura laughed shyly. Tenten glowered and turned to face Sakura and Neji. "Anyways, what are _you two_ doing here…together…?"

Neji shrugged. "We have been assigned a very low-class mission together. A few scrolls were lost in the forest that may be relevant to the medics, and we were sent to find them."

"O…Oh…" Tenten felt, suddenly, a strange emptiness in her chest.

"Well we'd better get going," Sakura said cheerfully. "It was nice to see you again, Tenten. Hope the rest of your day goes well."

"Goodbye…" Tenten said, waving the two off into the forest. But she did so without any enthusiasm, and as soon as they were gone, she twirled around to slide to a sitting position against the tree. She was feeling rather oddly jealous, and she was trying not to but she couldn't deny her anger. _She _was Neji's partner! Not Sakura!

She set her chin between her knees glumly. Oh, sure, she knew _why_ they were chosen to go on their little scavenger hunt _together_, she knew why their skills were relevant. And it wasn't even that big or important of a mission, it probably wouldn't take but twenty minutes, half an hour at most.

But it had always been her and Neji, together. Not Neji and someone else, someone with pink hair and big, sparkling green eyes…

Tenten frowned. The sound of the oncoming thunderstorm was getting louder, the smell of mud and the dampening of the humidity in the air getting stronger. But she could only think of those big, green, sparkling eyes, and the jealousy twanging away in her chest.

—

"—_and I'm going to run five thousand laps around the village if I can't do that, and I also resolve to finally win the beautiful Sakura-chan's heart, and if I can't do that I'm going to do ten thousand push-ups, and I also resolve to perfect the recipe for vegetarian sushi rolls so that it makes my mouth water just looking at them, and if I can't do that I'm going to eat one hundred whole salmon in three hours, and I also resolve to…"_

_Tenten sat there, feeling bored, as Lee went on and on with his list of New Year's resolutions. She thought Gai-sensei's list was long, but Lee was currently on number eighty-seven, and it looked like he was only halfway done. Neji had given up by now, and wasn't even listening. But Gai-sensei was sitting at attention, crossing his arms with a thoughtful frown on his face, nodding now and then like he was very interested._

_Completely bored, Tenten slid over to sit closer to Neji, giving him an exasperated look. "One more year like this ahead," she said with a sigh._

"_I'm not looking forward to it," Neji muttered dully._

_Tenten laughed a bit, watching as Lee just kept going on and on from across the table. "In a way, I'm not either. But at the same time, I'm excited for the New Year." She paused and looked at Neji. "Have you made any resolutions?"_

_Neji glanced at her and shook his head. "No. You?"_

_She shrugged. "Eh. I guess I want to find that one kunai I lost when I was training with you a couple years ago. The one with the dragon carved into the handle."_

"_I don't remember it," Neji said, frowning._

_Tenten pouted. "But it was the pretty one!" She sighed as Neji shook his head, not recognizing it. "Oh well," she said sadly. "I don't think I'll ever find it." She turned to look at him and poked him in the arm. "Well still, it's good to make some sort of resolution. Why don't you make one? Come on!"_

_Neji glanced at her and shrugged. "Alright, well…" He gazed at the table in front of him thoughtfully. "I think…" he said, lips moving slowly. "I'm going to tell someone a secret of mine that I've never told anyone before."_

_Tenten smiled curiously. "Oh! I love secrets. What secret?"_

_Neji gave her a little smile. "It wouldn't be a secret if I told you, now would it?" Tenten pouted and crossed her arms glumly, and he gave in to a tiny, amused laugh. He put a hand on her head and said, "It's not the New Year yet. I have an hour 'till I have to tell anyone the secret. Aren't those the rules?"_

_Tenten smirked at him. "Fine. But come midnight, I'm asking you up a storm!"_

_Neji smiled. "I believe it."_

_They turned to once again watch Lee and Gai, noticing that Lee had stopped his list and Gai was now criticizing it. "Now Lee," he was saying patronizingly, "How exactly are you planning on finally winning fair Sakura-chan's heart?"_

_Lee scratched his chin anxiously, mumbling, "Well, I'm not sure!"_

_Gai grinned, and swept back his bangs smoothly. "Well, my dear Lee," he boomed. "If you must know, I am very skilled when it comes to the ladies! (Tenten rolled her eyes.) I can always help you out if you need to know anything in the fields of romance and sex!"_

_At the last word, Lee, who had been scarfing down some more noodles, began to choke on his food. Tenten made a face, appalled when he spit out some of the noodles on her table. "Oh, Lee," she grumbled. "Here!" She leaned forward and took a knife, and began to cut the noodles in the serving dish into smaller, more bite-sized pieces._

_Gai frowned. "Why Tenten, that's bad luck!"_

"_Oh stop it," Tenten said to Gai-sensei. "My luck is bad enough already with you three spitting noodles all over my house."_

—

The tiny, brunette girl with twin buns on the top of her head gazed back at Tenten through the glass of the mirror. She was pulling the lower lid down of her right eye, trying in vain to see what she would look like if she had bigger eyes.

Eyes that were bright, and big, like Sakura's…

Tenten dropped her hand from her eye, looking the girl in the mirror over curiously. She had an athletic body, and she wasn't terrible-looking. But she was shorter than the rest of the girls, and she didn't have those long, slender legs or arms. She was too skinny, too short, too little…

Tenten winced at the sound of thunder rumbling through the bathroom window, and she turned to look out the glass at the rain falling in sheets outside. The thunderstorm had finally reached them, gently rumbling in the sky ahead and throwing buckets of water down on the citizens of Konoha.

Neji and Sakura were out there in the forest still, most likely. It had been only ten minutes since Tenten had left them. They were probably searching for shelter from the rain right now. Together. Alone. Trying to find a way to keep warm…

_BANG!_

She jumped back from her mirror, which she'd, not of her own will, punched. She gulped, feeling relieved that she hadn't broken the glass. She would have had seven more years of bad luck.

She scoffed and turned back to the window. Well. It wouldn't really matter if she had. Her luck was bad enough as it was…

—

"_HAPPY NEW YEAR!"_

_Tenten laughed as she sat down next to Neji, brandishing her lit sparkler in the air. They were on the roof of her house, watching the fireworks finally exploding in the air as the clock struck midnight. Lee and Gai were busy dancing on the edge of the roof, outlined by the fireworks, brandishing their own sparklers and giving out booming cries of celebration, punching the air wildly._

_As they kept it up, Tenten looked to her right at Neji with a smile. "Having fun?"_

_Neji shrugged. "I suppose." He chuckled a bit and added, "It's more fun to watch them," nodding at Lee and Gai as they hooked arms and swung around each other, cackling ecstatically._

_Tenten giggled. "You're right. Dinner and a show." Neji nodded with a little chuckle, and Tenten frowned. "Aha! You were supposed to tell me the secret at midnight!" She grinned slyly. "It's midnight now. So spill!"_

_Neji looked at her, and heaved a sigh. He sat back and looked up at the colorful sparks bursting through the sky. "I may as well…" he said. Tenten noticed, suddenly, that he seemed slightly nervous. So she gave him her full attention, putting aside the sparkler which had by now burned out. Neji wasn't looking at her, but as he spoke, his every word hit her in a very personals way. "My secret is that…" he said quietly. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "…is that…" He paused, then:_

"…_I have feelings for you…"_

_Tenten felt her lips part. It was silent, except for the cheers and yells of Lee and Gai dancing and swaying in the background. Neji did not look at her, but she couldn't look away._

_Finally she coughed and mumbled, "Neji, I…I'm sorry…" Neji's eyes closed, and she continued sadly, "It's just…I'm meant for someone else, so…" Neji opened his eyes again, heaving a long sigh, and Tenten said sadly, "Can we just be friends…?"_

_Neji cleared his throat and nodded heavily. "Of course we can." Tenten smiled weakly in relief. "I already predicted this," he continued softly. Tenten watched as he dragged his knees up to himself and folded his arms on them. "I always knew you couldn't return my feelings. I just wanted to tell you."_

_The fireworks crackled in the background. Neji watched them exploding in the air with empty eyes as he said, "Now I can move on."_

—

Tenten was never one for regrets. Especially ones that came so late.

But now, two months later, here she was, regretting everything that had happened on New Year's night.

She wished she could have said something different. Wished she could be with Neji, not someone who hadn't even found her yet.

Her feet splashed as she walked through a thin puddle that blanketed the streets of Konoha. She was walking through the rain to meet Lee, who had asked to see her at three o'clock at his house. It was half past three now, but she was too depressed to care about being late.

Of course, Lee wasn't exactly about to forgive her for that.

"TENTEN, YOU'RE ALIVE!"

Tenten squeaked out in surprise when Lee came sweeping out of nowhere to grab her by the arm, pulling her over to him ecstatically. She had been so intent on just staring down at the rainy street that she wasn't paying attention to the upcoming Lee.

"What do you mean I'm alive? Of course I'm alive," Tenten snapped.

Lee was staring at her like she was an alien. "But you were late, I'd feared someone had killed you!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Tenten grumbled, rolling her eyes. "So why did you want to meet me anyway-Hey!" Tenten was interrupted when suddenly Lee grabbed hold of her arm, and began to whip her away. "L-Lee! Stop, where are you taking me?"

"You'll see!"

"Are you going to kill me?"

"You'll see!"

"…Lee, that's not what you're supposed to say when asked that question!"

—

"_You two make sure he gets home alright, will you?"_

"_We'll try…" Neji said uncertainly. He was standing next to Tenten in her doorway, the two watching nervously as Lee helped a very drunk Gai-sensei try to stand._

"_L-Lee," Gai was slurring now. "I resolve to…to beat up…the…oct…the octopus…"_

"_Um, yes, Gai-sensei! I know you will, er…do very well at beating up the, um…octopus!"_

"_Tha's damn right, Neji, tha's damn right…"_

"_I'm not Neji, I'm Lee…"_

"_Don' be such a liar, Leji…"_

_Neji rolled his eyes. "Well, goodnight," he said to Tenten, stepping down from her porch._

"_Goodnight, Tenten," Lee piped up from under Gai's armpit, knees shaking in an effort to keep Gai standing._

"_Goo'morning, Lulu..."_

"…_Good morning, Gai-sensei…" Tenten muttered. She began to wave the three men away. But as she watched Neji's form, walking away from her, she felt a strange, sick feeling in her chest. One she didn't recognize, and didn't like._

—

Tenten felt her world whirl around when she was suddenly thrown to a stop in a clearing. It took a while for her to get her bearings after being dragged halfway across Konoha by a very uncooperative Lee to notice that she was yet again in her and Neji's training field.

And she wasn't alone.

Neji and Sakura were there on the edge of the forest. Both of them were covered in mud, but there were no scrolls.

Tenten faced them, and Neji seemed to be a little nervous. She glanced at Lee, who was standing there and saluting to Neji and Sakura. She turned back to Neji and Sakura and glowered. "Did you really send him to escort me here?"

Sakura laughed. "Yes," she admitted sheepishly. "I know he's not the best messenger, but he's one of the only ones who you would actually have a reason to meet."

Tenten sighed. "What's this about?" she muttered. She really didn't want to know, fearing that Neji would be explaining to her that he was marrying Sakura and he wanted to Tenten to be their maid of honor or something.

But instead of giving his attention to Sakura, he instead walked over to Tenten, and held something out to her. Tenten raised an eyebrow, but took the object that he handed to her. And she gasped when she saw what it was.

It had been covered in mud before, she could still see remnants of it spread along its outer core. But someone, probably Neji, had wiped the mud off in an effort to clean it as much as they could. It was a little more worn down than it was when she'd seen it last, and the blade was now much more dull thanks to years of erosion.

But it was still there. Her kunai with the dragon carved into the handle, the one she'd lost when sparring with Neji, the one she treasured most, the pretty one, the one that her mother had given her when she was a little girl and insisted was good luck, the one that had almost pierced Neji's arm, which Tenten was worried would hurt him, so she deflected it at the last minute, proving her care in him, and his trust in her, yes _that_ one.

She gazed up at Neji in wonder, and he nodded down at her. "Happy Birthday," he said calmly. Her heart skipped a beat, and he blushed and looked away, coughing. "I just wanted to get you something special," he said. "So I figured I'd help you with your New Year's resolution, since you...helped me with mine."

They both turned when suddenly, they heard Sakura laugh. Sakura put a hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry, I'm just so jealous of you Tenten!" she said sheepishly. "You have such a pretty smile. I wish I could have a smile like that."

—

"_Wait!"_

_Neji turned around. Tenten clutched onto the railing of her doorway, leaning out. She chewed her bottom lip when her and Neji's gaze met, and she called loudly across the street to him,_

"…_I just wanted to say…"_

—

Tenten leaned up, and pressed her lips to Neji's.

"_Thank you, Neji."_

When she pulled away, Neji was smiling back at her, although rather nervously, and his cheeks were just as red as hers, since they could both hear Sakura and Lee snickering in the background.

But as embarrassed as she was, Tenten was rather pleased with herself. She'd decided that if she was good enough for him, he would be good enough for her. He was the one. She was just a little late too realize it.

"_You're welcome."_

Tenten always knew she couldn't tell the future. But she still tried.

Happy Birthday Tenten [March 9, 2012] ❤


End file.
